US: ACA calls for new trial in DOJ challenge to AT&T/TW

The American Cable Association (ACA) has told a federal appeals court that it should throw out the district court’s decision to allow the AT&T/Time Warner merger and kick the case back to that court for a new trial, reported Variety.

That came in an amicus brief to the US Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit. The ACA claims the lower court’s “incorrect and inconsistent” economic analysis demands that the ruling be reversed and the case retried.

“In economics, it is generally accepted that an increase in the cost of providing a good (whether increased opportunity costs or otherwise) will ordinarily cause a provider to demand more compensation for the good and increase the price as a result,” they wrote in their brief. They said that Judge Leon rejected that principle when it came to the Justice Department’s (DOJ) claim that Time Warner’s Turner channels would charge higher rates to AT&T’s distribution rivals. But they say that contradicts Judge Leon’s acceptance of AT&T’s claim that digital competition had decreased ad revenue and forced it to charge higher distribution fees.

The DOJ argued that the incentives of the Turner channels would change once it was owned by AT&T, which also owns distributor DirecTV.

Full Content: https: Variety